PIMDA: Profound Intellectual & Multiple Disability Australia

Welcome to PIMDA. PIMDA stands for profound intellectual and multiple disabilities Australia. PIMDA is Sheridan Forster's weblog about issues to do with people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) in Australia. The purpose of PIMDA is to increase awareness of people with PIMD and the issues pertaining to this population. The other purpose of PIMDA is to build a network of interested people who can then work together to improve the lives of people with PIMD.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Approaching Best Practice for adults with PIMD in day services

I had the pleasure of spending a day at WALCA in Bexley, NSW, last week.

There were many things about the service that make me suggest they are approaching best practice.

Most notable was their InterCom service in IGLO:). This part of the day service included two staff dedicated to supporting the communication of the service users. The staff had built particular expertise in Intensive Interaction and other communication strategies. They had an area of the day service where they could bring clients for one to one work. In addition, they had other staff spend a day in the part of the service so that they could model and share what they'd learnt.

They showed and discussed a video that they had made of the work. They impressed me with their ability to describe the outcomes for service users and how these had been bought about: people who were now taking turns in sound play, people who had started the service screaming most of the day and now smiling in interactions... Very impressive, and showing the value of day services when time is dedicated to staff learning and nurturing their ability to bring about and describe outcomes.

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Advocacy articles

Longley, S., & Collins, G. J. (1994). The development of a non-verbal satisfaction measure for use with people who have severe or profound learning disabilities. British Journal of Developmental Disabilities, XL(79), 143-149.
Porter, J., Ouvry, C., Morgan, M., & Downs, C. (2001). Interpreting the communication of people with profound and multiple learning difficulties. British Journal of Learning Disability, 29(1), 12-16.
Ware, J. (2004). Ascertaining the views of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. British Journal Learning Disability, 32(4), 175-179.

Arts and multi-sensory articles

Ashby, M., Lindsay, W. R., Pitcaithly, D., Broxholme, S., & Geelen, N. (1995). Snoezelen: Its effects on concentration and responsiveness in people with profound multiple handicaps. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 58(7), 303-307.
Brodin, J. (2005). Diversity of aspects on play in children with profound multiple disabilities. Early Child Development and Care, 175, 635-646.
Bunning, K. (1998). To engage or not to engage? Affecting the interactions of learning disabled adults. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 33(Supplement), 386-391.
Cuvo, A. J., May, M. M., & Post, T. M. (2001). Effects of living room, Snoezelen room, and outdoor activities on stereotypic behavior and engagement by adults with profound mental retardation. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 22, 183-204.
Graham, J. (2004). Communicating with the uncommunicative: music therapy with pre-verbal adults. British Journal Learning Disability, 32(1), 24-29.
Hogg, J., Cavet, J., Lambe, L., & Smeddle, M. (2001). The use of 'Snoezelen' as multisensory stimulation with people with intellectual disabilities: a review of the research. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 22, 353-372.
Lindsay, W. R., Pitcaithly, D., Geelen, N., Buntin, L., Broxholme, S., & Ashby, M. (1997). A comparison of the effects of four therapy procedures on concentration and responsiveness in people with profound learning disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 41(3), 201-207.
Logan, K. R., Jacobs, H. A., Gast, D. L., Smith, P. D., Daniel, J., & Rawls, J. (2001). Preferences and reinforcers for students with profound multiple disabilities: can we identify them? Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 13(2), 97-122.
Matson, J. L., Bamburg, J. W., & Smalls, Y. (2004). An analysis of Snoezelen equipment to reinforce persons with severe or profound mental retardation. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 25(1), 89-95.
Rainey Perry, M. M. (2003). Relating improvisational music therapy with severely and multiply disabled children to communication development. Journal of Music Therapy, XL(3), 227-246.
Shapiro, M., Parush, S., Green, M., & Roth, D. (1997). The efficacy of the "Snoezelen" in the mangagement of children with mental retardation who exhibit maladaptive behaviours. British Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 43(2), 140-155.
Singh, N. N., Lancioni, G. E., Winton, A. S. W., Molina, E. J., Sage, M., Brown, S., et al. (2004). Effects of Snoezelen room, activities of daily living skills training, and vocational skills training on aggression and self-injury by adults with mental retardation and mental illness. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 25(3), 285-293.
Vlaskamp, C., & Nakken, H. (1999). Missing in execution therapies and activities for individuals with profound multiple disabilities. British Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 45(2), 99-109.
Vlaskamp, C., de Geeter, K. I., Huijsmans, L. M., & Smit, I. H. (2003). Passive activities: the effectiveness of multisensory environments on the level of activity of individuals with profound multiple disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 16, 135-143.